PolitiFact R.I.: Author's claim that 75 percent of young adults in U.S. are unfit for military is True

Bing West, Marine veteran of Vietnam and an expert on counterinsurgency warfare, was discussing military preparedness on WPRO-AM when he said 75 percent of the young adults in this country are not mentally or physically fit to serve.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Bing West, Marine veteran of Vietnam and an expert on counterinsurgency warfare, was discussing military preparedness with host Gene Valicenti last week on WPRO-AM.

They were talking about Defense Secretary Chuck Hagelís proposed defense budget, which includes, among other spending cuts, trimming the Army from its current level of 520,000 troops to as low as 440,000 active duty soldiers, the lowest level since before World War II.

West opposes the troop reductions, saying such cuts would make it difficult for the United States to respond quickly to future military threats. If those kinds of cuts must be made, he said, it is common sense to have a backup mobilization plan in place to rapidly increase the size of the military. In other words, he said, a draft.

Besides the obvious political challenges in re-instituting the draft, which ended in 1973, West said thereís a logistical problem as well: Seventy-five percent of the young adults in this country are not mentally or physically fit to serve, he said.